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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Swift (1994, Stroma x ?)
Along with Rocket these are the earliest cropping potatoes available in UK, Swift are generally thought to be the better and can even be used for baking, mashing and roasting if left to grow on a bit. Compact plants, suitable for planting at the beginning of April and growing under cloches or fleece to crop from about midsummer's day. Round and white.
Accent (1989)
One of the best general purpose first earlies and earlier than most, only serious problem is susceptability to tuber blight (their resistance to foliar blight is reasonable). Good flavour. Round shape, yellowish flesh.
Accord (1996)
Related and similar to Accent, not quite as good for flavour (in my opinion, Alan Romans differs), has the advantage of noticeably better resistance to blight on tubers but slightly less foliar blight resistance. Round shape, flesh is paler yellow than Accent.
Amandine (199? Mariana x Charlotte)
A good salad potato when harvested early, becomes a tasty more general purpose type if dug later. Moderate blight resistance. Long shape, yellowish flesh.
Amora (Premiere x Anosta)
Like Premiere an early general purpose variety. High yielding, early bulking. Round oval, yellow flesh.
Dunluce (1976 Saskia x K 126 Clarke)
Decent flavoured, loose skinned new potato, matures to be more general purpose. Poor blight resistance. Oval / round shape, white-yellow flesh.
Epicure (1897)
One of the flouriest earlies, a good new potato, can have very good yields if it likes your soil etc. Poor blight resistance. Round, deep eyed and white.
Lady Christl (1996, WS 73-3-391 x Mansour)
A very good waxy salad potato, probably has the edge over Charlotte in just about every respect - yield, earliness, and taste (I think). Moderate foliar blight resistance, good tuber blight resistance. Long oval shape, white skin, yellow flesh.
Orla (2000)
The most blight resistant first early, currently close to immune. Can be used as a decent boiling first early or grown on as a maincrop when it becomes more general purpose. Stores well, long dormancy. Oval, white.
Premiere (1979 Civa x Provita)
Robust and useful variety, fairly general purpose, good-ish flavour, moderate blight resistance. Round / oval, white-yellow flesh.
Red Duke of York (1942)
Floury and excellent flavour, but with a big disadvantage: very susceptable to blight on both leaves and tubers. Red skin, white flesh, oval shape.
Sharpe's Express (1900)
Another tasty one that's on the floury side. Rated as poor blight resistance but some I've grown have had surprisingly good resistance. Somewhat irregular oval shape, white flesh. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Annabelle (Nicola x Monalisa)
Nice salad potato, low resistance to blight but should be early enough to miss it. Oval, white.
Apache (2010 Stroma x S. phureja seedling)
A piebald - red skin with cream coloured patches. It is small-ish and round in shape with a slightly waxy texture. Cook in its skin, boiled or baked. Apparently has a superb almost sweet, buttery, chestnut flavour. Has Solanum phureja genes in its parentage - like Yukon Gold but probably more so. Mid yellow flesh
British Queen (1894)
Excellent old fashioned floury, high dry matter potato. Recently awarded RHS Award of Garden Merit, good yields. Oval, white.
Charlotte (1981)
Good flavour, high yielding, waxy, salad type. Personally I can think of a handful of varieties of this type I prefer but Charlotte is a good potato and very popular. Oval, white skinned, yellow fleshed.
Edzell Blue
First recorded in 1915 but is said to have been bred by an unknown gardener or farmer from Edzell, Angus in the Victorian era. Dry and tasty, good for mash, roast and frying. Round-ish, deep eyed, blue skin and white flesh.
Elisabeth (VE 82-96 x Celina)
Recently introduced from Netherlands, an early second early salad. Produces lots of uniform tubers. Long oval, yellowish flesh.
Juliette (1997)
Another recent-ish salad, and quite a good one, I've grown it and like it. Long oval, yellow fleshed.
Kestrel (1992 Solanum vernei x Cara)
Pretty, tasty, high yielding, general purpose but slightly on the waxy side. Good for most uses, even roasts OK, and very good baked. If you could only grow one variety this might be a good choice. White withe purple eyes, light yellow flesh.
Maris Peer (1966 120/13 x Ulster Knight)
A good boiling potato; popular, waxy, a good salad potato - especially if eaten soon after digging. Oval, cream flesh.
Piccolo Star
Produces a large number of tubers for salad / new potato use. Smooth oval, yellow flesh. Low-ish blight resistance.
Romano (Desiree x ?)
More uniform and less prone to scab than Desiree, it does not have the strong flavour or the drought resistance but it does have better blight and slug resistance. Late-ish second early. Oval, red skinned, yellow fleshed.
Saxon (1992 Kingston x Desiree)
High yielding, good flavour, general purpose. Good baker, produces uniform large-ish tubers. Oval, cream flesh.
Smile (Rode Eersteling x SVP)
Named for it's red skin with white 'smiles' (crescent moon shapes). It's breeding has Red Duke of York in it, Alan Romans says "the flavour and texture are close to Red Duke of York" so worth trying. Good yields of medium tubers. Cream flesh.
Yukon Gold
Originally from Canada. Good, general purpose, largish tubers. Excellent baker, 'buttery' taste, moderately high dry matter. Large plants. Skin sometimes has pinkish flushes, light yellow flesh. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| 97Z55B10
This one is pot luck, I couldn't find out anything about it! It's long oval, piebald red and white skin - quite attractive, yellowish flesh. Looks like a salad potato. Just cooked and eaten one and it's actually qute a good salad potato - surprising since been stored and treated as a seed potato, not for eating. The skin's a bit thick but it pops off very easily after cooking.
Blue Belle (2007 Sylvia x Cara)
White skin with distinctive, purple/blue eye patches. A good general purpose potato with excellent flavour. Does well in bags and boxes. Mid yellow flesh.
Blue Danube
(AR description) This is a "new" Sarpo variety although they don't use the prefix on a variety they don't regard as blight resistant - it is still more resistant than any other non-Sarpo variety!- particularly if the very high tuber blight resistance is considered. Beautiful blue skin with pale flesh. It has full yellow eelworm resistance. When first trialled as "Adam's Blue" this was well received both for flavour and appearance
Oval, purple skin and white flesh.
Cabaret (2001)
An attractive Maris Piper type. Productive, good flavour. Oval, white.
Ditta (1989 Bintje x Quarta)
An austrian bred salad potato, said to have good flavour. Moderate foliar blight resistance, high tuber blight resistance. Long oval, yellow flesh.
Flourball (1895?)
AR says "This is a legendary Irish floury potato bred by Miss King of Mount Mellick and released through Sutton's in 1895. Round, red and with deep eyes. The flavour is intense - one for the lovers of Arran Victory, Golden Wonder and Dunbar Rover." I want some!
Harlequin (2003 Charlotte x Pink Fir Apple)
With those parents it should be a special salad potato and taste tests give it very high praise. Long, slightly tapered oval shape, smooth like charlotte rather than knobbly like PFA, skin is flushed pink at the blunt end. I'll be trying this, for sure.
Hermes (1993 DDR 5158 x SW 163/55)
Very widely grown for the crisp industry. High dry matter, floury, tasty, should be good for mash and roast. High yields and vigorous. Round oval, yellowish flesh.
Highland Burgundy Red
This one is red inside! High dry matter, floury, possibly slightly sweet. Makes tasty, fluffy pink mash, fries well, roasts OK. Yields surprisingly well. A good potato. Long oval, red skin and flesh.
Innovator (Shepody x RZ-84-2580)
This looks interesting - a russet skinned, high dry matter, floury, cream coloured flesh, long oval potato. Said to have "a remarkably good flavour". The only one I've grown that's similar is Golden Wonder, and I wonder if this could be a bit like that? If so it will be well worth growing.
Kifli
(AR description) Kifli is a white fingerling type from the Sarpo stable. No prefix because they don't consider it to be blight resistant but it has similar or better resistance when compared to all the other so- called blight resistors. It is named after the bread roll of Hungary which has a similar shape. It has good flavour - described as persisting "exceptional new potato" flavour. Salad/ general purpose. Resistant to yellow eelworm as well as virus and blackleg.
Lady Jo (CMK 1987-203-014 x VE 74-45)
Bred for crisping (like Rooster) so will probably be very good for mashing and roasting, could be good for baking. Above average resistance to blight. Round, light yellow flesh.
Lady Rosetta (1989 Cardinal x (VTN)2 62-33-3)
A popular crisping variety that those who grow it like to eat. Floury, high dry matter, very good for roasting and frying. Round, red skin, pale yellow flesh.
Lady Valora
Recent introduction for the crisping industry. Don't know any more about it.
Maris Piper (1963 (Sol Andigena x Ulster Knight) x (Arran Cairn x Herald)
The chippies favourite but slugs like it, too. Good yields and flavour, excellent for frying. Oval, cream flesh.
Markies (2000 Agria x Fianna)
Another recent attempt to displace Maris Piper from its chipping throne
Melody (2000 VE7445 x W72.22.496)
Very high yielding, general purpose type especially as a waxy baker. It stores well. Oval, mid yellow flesh.
Orchestra
Recent introduction for general purpose / baking. Round oval, yellow flesh.
Pentland Dell (1960 Roslin Chania x Roslin Sasumua)
Was blight immune until blight discovered sex, no longer so. Good yields of big tubers for general purpose, bakers, chips and up market crisps. Some slug resistance. Cream flesh.
Rodeo
High yielding general purpose / salad type. Long oval, red skin, light yellow flesh.
Rooster (1993)
Started as a specialist crisping / frying variety but rapidly got noticed as a high yielding, floury, tasty potato. Excellent for frying and roasting, very good for mashing. OK for boiling. Oval, red skinned, yellowish flesh.
Saphire
High yields of baking size potatoes. Similar to Saxon. Round oval, cream flesh.
Salad Blue
This one is blue inside, too! Not a salad potato - floury, good for mashing and frying, decent for roasting. Good cropper if blight doesn't get it. Roundish, blue skin and flesh.
Sante (1983 WY 66-13-636 x AM 66-42)
Robust, disease resistant variety, general purpose. It was the first commercially important variety to be double eelworm resistant. Round oval, light yellow flesh.
Sarpo Shona (2009 87.41.1090 x 84.13.2 )
(AR description) This is the latest blight resistor from the Sarvari Research Trust. Not quite in the Axona/ Mira league but better than everything else available. Shona is white skinned, earlier and more conventional. General purpose but fries and bakes well. Foliage is short but dense - manageable but also weed suppressing. Good resistance to virus and several skin fungi.
Setanta (Rooster x Brodick)
If you want a good, floury, general purpose / roaster then this is close to perfection. Very good blight and disease resistance, inherited its cooking qualities from Rooster, high yielding and pretty. Oval, red skin, light yellow flesh.
Victoria
Another Maris Piper alike, good for chips and frying. It has higher yields and is being heavily promoted. Oval, white, yellow flesh.
Vivaldi
Heavily promoted as a less fattening potato (it has lower carbohydrates than others). Despite that it tastes OK. Fairly general purpose but doesn't excel in any particular direction. Oval, light yellow skin and flesh. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 214
| Arran Victory
A striking, floury potato. Excellent for mashing and frying, very good for roasting and baking. Yields can be high and surprisingly early - it was our heaviest cropper (about 2.75kg/plant) in the blighted 2008 season at Netherton. Excellent. Roundish, purple skin, white flesh.
Golden Wonder
Has never cropped well for me at Netherton. That's sad because it's a dense, excellent fryer (probably hence the crisps' name) that absorbs little fat. Good flavour, Roasts well. Oval, russet skin, white flesh.
Kerr's Pink (1917)
Ties with Rooster for the best roaster in my opinion. Floury, great for mashing and good for frying, too. Yields can be very good, big plant. Roundish, sometimes deep eyes, pink flashes on white skin, white flesh.
Markies (199?)
Another Maris Piper alike. It has higher yields and is being heavily promoted. It, along with Victoria, are giving UK chips yellow flesh for the first time. Oval, white, yellow flesh.
Peachbloom (1870?)
The skin surface has a remarkable bloom or shine. Flesh is tender and sweet. One I'm going to try. Part pinkish skin, round with deep eyes, white flesh.
Pink Fir Apple (1850)
Alegendary salad potato for winter use from store. Knobbly, irregular tubers that should be cooked whole in their skins. Yellowish flesh.
Sarpo Axona (2004 76 PO 12 14 268 x D187)
(AR description) Officially just Axona but it is better known with the prefix. The two available red Sarpos are similar, coming from the same cross produced, after decades of work, by the Sarvari family in Hungary. They produce high food value crops in varying conditions and in a wide range of soils. Blight resistance is exceptional - only Sarpo Mira is better in my opinion. This variety is capable of growing new leaves at least as fast as old leaves slowly succumb to the infection. Tuber blight resistance is so high that I recommend not cutting the foliage when initial infection is spotted. Cut down say towards the end of August to prevent the continuously developing tubers from getting too large and too starchy. I think Axona has the better flavour over Mira by a small margin but I am a "floury" person and opinions vary.
Sarpo Mira (2003 76 PO 12 14 268 x D187)
Mira is extremely blight and virus resistant - the most resistant variety known at the moment. Floury side of general purpose, tubers can get big. Stores exceptionally well, drought tolerant. Oval-ish, red skin, cream flesh. | |
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Potato day variety notes: First Earlies